Moulded textile lingerie item with support region made from silicone

ABSTRACT

An article made of elastic textile material comprising at least one zone intended to be shaped by thermal molding is provided. The at least one zone has at least over one part a support region in which the textile material is coated, prior to thermal molding, with a non-moldable material with shape-memory. The article is, in particular, a brassiere coated with silicone in the zone of the cups of the brassiere.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/543,909,filed on May 8, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,862,401, now pending, whichclaims the priority of International Patent Application No.PCT/FR2004/000206 filed on Jan. 29, 2004, which claims priority ofFrench Patent Application No. 0301193 filed on Feb. 3, 2003, the entirecontents of all of which are incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to undergarments, in particular to abrassiere.

2. Description of Related Art

Production a brassiere made of elastic textile providing the wearer witha sensation of lightness and comfort, is often counteracted by thereinforcement and support devices for correctly maintaining the bustnotwithstanding the elasticity of the textile material. These devicescan comprise frameworks as in the conventional configuration, saidframeworks being generally considered unpleasant, or of reinforcingtextile layers, as disclosed for example in EP 0 809 945, teachingreinforcement parts fused together or laminated but having the drawbackof stiffening the garment and nullifying its expandability.

Similarly, manufacturing of the brassiere is, for example, disclosed inU.S. Pat. No. 3,981,310, U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,364, U.S. Pat. No.5,855,124 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,659 in which the cups of the brassiereare thermally molded. However, the resulting comfort and supportobtained using these techniques leaves much to be desired.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to provide a brassiere with the featureof effective but not uncomfortable support for the wearer.

This object is achieved in the context of a textile article made ofelastic material comprising at least one zone intended for forming bythermal molding, wherein, according to the invention, the articlecomprises at least over one part of said zone a support region in whichthe textile material is covered prior to thermal molding with anon-moldable material with shape-memory.

The term non-moldable material with shape-memory is defined as amaterial which, when it is molded simultaneously to a textile layer onwhich it is disposed, tends to elastically recover after molding theinitial shape it had prior to molding and thus exerts an elastic holdingaction on the textile material to which it is bonded.

The shape memory material is advantageously a medical class siliconerubber which is deposited onto a reticulated zone on the textilematerial before thermal molding of the article. It is preferably abi-component thermally vulcanizable elastomer of the type known as LSR(liquid silicone rubber); such an elastomer polymerizes by polyadditionreaction at 150 degrees Celsius (° C.). It is an elastomer of thepolymethyl siloxane type with vinyl groups and charges for which aplatinum catalyst and an accelerator of the same type can be used.

When the silicone is deposited on the textile, it tends to stick to thefibers during reticulation and unites quite well with the fabric.

The silicone can be deposited by coating or by impression or by anyother process. The silicone layer deposited can form ridges or it can besmooth. The layer can be deposited in such a way as to form a continuouslayer or, in contrast, to produce a network of textile fibers on whichit is deposited following the natural holes formed by the network of theweave. The silicone layer can be deposited by impression so as to form apattern for an undergarment article or any other design. The textilematerial coated with the silicone can be coated with another material orwith the same textile so as to create a textile—silicone—textilecomplex. In this case, the silicone acts as the adhesive between the twotextile materials.

Deposition can be done using a defined pattern or a panel (the patternis then subsequently cut-out).

In the preferred but non-exclusive application of the invention, thearticle is a brassiere and the molded zones are the cups of thebrassiere.

Advantageously, the support region extends principally over the lowerpart of the cups. Preferably, the region forms a surface representing atleast the half of the lower part of the cups. Advantageously, the regionforms an angular segment of the cups.

Advantageously still, the support region extends to the skirt portionsituated under the cup; further, the support region can comprise acontinuous lateral vertical part, external to the cup.

The utilization of silicone in undergarments is not new. In general,silicone is used for its adhesive properties that provide anti-slipfeatures. Accordingly, the patents FR 2 749 167, DE 200 00 635 teachesstrips of anti-skid silicone strips for panties, stockings and tights.Patents GB 1 171 063 and WO 98/09013 disclose tights or the like whoseone part is impregnated with silicone for producing in situ theanti-slip part. An undergarment having an elastic edge is also known,for example, from patent FR 2 808 972 of the Applicant. As disclosed inpatent U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,825 a brassiere is known in which severalsilicone bands in thin layers are placed over different zones of thearticle, including over the cups. However, these zones remain in theform of reduced bands and above all are not applied before thermalmolding so as to effect an elastic holding action.

Similarly, patent FR 2 779 325, filed on behalf of the Applicant,discloses a molded silicone shell, that may be incorporated into thetextile of the brassiere. The silicone is in a considerable quantity insaid shell and is of such a nature as to allow molding in a shape. Incontrast, according to the present invention, the silicone does not forma shell with the textile layer but simple coating done under conditionsthat do not mold the shape of the silicone and, on the contrary, allowsit a memory of its former planar shape.

By virtue of the invention a light product is obtained withoutreinforcement that enables correcting the principal curvature of thebust. The silhouette is improved in such a fashion to present wasconsidered impossible to achieve using such light textiles.

Other advantages and features will become obvious when reading thefollowing description with reference to the single figure appendedhereto, which represents a blank of the brassiere with its differentzones and regions according to the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The single FIGURE is a perspective view of a brassiere with itsdifferent zones and regions according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The brassiere 1 is produced using a blank 2 made of a piece of textileproduced from a light and elastic material. It is advantageously asynthetic silk charmeuse fabric (polyester or polyamide) and containingan Olsten. Advantageously, its weight in grams per square meter (m²) isnot greater than 100 g/m², but in the case of specific textiles such asknitted double-fabric articles, the weight can be up to 400 g/m². Itsmanual expansion is at least 80% in both directions. The blank forms twosymmetrical panels, each one of which comprises a zone 3 for forming,after thermal shaping, the cups of the brassiere.

According to the invention, silicone is deposited onto the textilematerial comprising the blank, at least in on region 4 which overlaps atleast the zone 3. The region 4 comprises advantageously at least thebottom part of the zone 3, for example, a part correspondingsubstantially to a sector 5 of one quarter to one third of the zone 3,continuing into the zone 6 of the skirt of the brassiere and,eventually, through a lateral zone 7 joining the lower edge and theupper edge of a panel and situated outside of the zone 3 of the cup. Thesilicone is advantageously deposited in a thickness of preferablybetween 0.5 millimeter (mm) and 1 mm and in such a fashion as to form asolid covering a relatively wide zone of the lower part of the cup, incontrast with the bands deposited according to the prior art.

Furthermore, the silicon is also advantageously deposited, in a fashionknown per se, on the edges 8 of the panels and in the median zone 9 ofthe panels. In fact, the silicone is deposited also on the marginal zone8 of the blank 2, which enables clean cutting and eliminates stitchingof the edge of the brassiere 1.

The silicone can be deposited in order to be situated only on the innerside of the brassiere or, in the alternative, only on the outer side.

After depositing of the silicone, the brassiere is passed through anoven, whose temperature is between 1500 and 2000 for 30 seconds to 2minutes. The undergarment article is then thermoshaped on a cup-shapingmold, in which the temperature reaches the order of 180 degrees Celsius(° C.). The textile base is deformed and keeps its new shape while thesilicone covering it tends to resume its initial shape and thus imposesan elastic stress on the article that is capable of supplying a hold tothe bust and an elegant curvature.

It is possible, but unnecessary, to combine the invention with moreconventional reinforcing elements, if desired, such as frameworks orreinforcing bands.

The invention has been described with reference to a brassiere, whichcomprises its preferred embodiment. Nevertheless, the same principle canbe applied to men's briefs having a molded support zone comprising anon-molded layer of silicone.

1. A method of forming a textile article, comprising: depositing asilicone coating on at least a portion of a zone of a textile base;exposing the silicone coating to a process so that the silicone coatingforms a solid coating on the portion of the zone; and thermoshaping theportion of the zone of the textile base to a molded shape so that thezone of said textile base keeps said molded shape while said siliconecoating does not retain the molded shape, wherein the molded shapecomprises a pair of molded breast cups.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein said textile base is an elastic textile.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein the step of depositing said silicone coating on at least saidportion of said zone comprises depositing said silicone coating on asupport region extending over a lower part of each of said pair ofmolded breast cups.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein said supportregion forms a surface representing at least half of said lower part ofsaid pair of molded breast cups.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein saidsupport region forms an angular section of said pair of molded breastcups.
 6. The method of claim 3, wherein said support region extends to askirt portion under said pair of molded breast cups.
 7. The method ofclaim 3, wherein said support region comprises a continuous lateralvertical part exterior to said pair of molded breast cups.
 8. The methodof claim 1, wherein said silicone coating comprises a shape memoryelastomer material.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein said shape memoryelastomer material comprises silicone rubber.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein said silicone rubber is a thermally vulcanizable elastomer andwherein said process comprises a thermal vulcanization process.
 11. Themethod of claim 9, wherein said silicone rubber comprises a bi-componentthermally vulcanizable elastomer.
 12. The method of claim 1, whereindepositing said shape memory elastomer material comprises coating saidshape memory elastomer material to a thickness of between 0.5 mm to 1.0mm.